The Australasian specialty carpet wool breeds, their wool and its role in carpet manufacture - A review

This paper reviews data relating to the Australasian specialty carpet wool industry with respect to the role of specialty wool fibres in carpet manufa cture, the development of specialty breeds, and their wool production and q uality compared to other coarse-woolled sheep breeds. The Australasian spec ialty carpet wool breeds, the Carpetmaster, Drysdale, Elliottdale and Tukid ale, were developed in New Zealand and Australia during the 1960's and 1970 's through the utilisation and propagation of mutations in Romneys and Pere ndales. The mutations produce a coarse fleece of medullated fibre significa ntly different from the normal fleece characteristic of the base breeds. Th is medullated fibre is used as the specialty component in carpet blends to improve carpet appearance and performance, hence influencing end-product va lue. Specialty carpet wool is characterised by a mean fibre diameter greate r than 40 mu m, high fibre diameter variability, high levels of medullation , long and straight (uncrimped) fibres, and bright, white colour. These cha racteristics enhance carpet performance through increased resilience, incre ased light reflectance which hides soiling, crisp and harsh handle, and lig htness and brightness which allows the carpet to be dyed to pastel shades. The Australasian specialty carpet wool breeds have extremely low levels of dark fibre found in their fleeces compared to the coarse and carpet wool br eeds of the UK and Asia. They exhibit a seasonal pattern of wool production with summer maxima and winter minima similar to breeds such as the Romney. While there is considerable data relating to seasonal woof quality cycles in the Romney, information pertaining to the specialty carpet wool breeds h as only begun to accumulate over recent years.